Lord AVCS Gains Traction with Helicopter Platforms

By Douglas Nelms

With the increasing demand for greater comfort in helicopter operations, manufacturers are increasingly turning to active vibration control systems (AVCS) to reduce the vibrations being produced by the rotor and transmission systems within the aircraft.

Sikorsky has already put active vibration control on its S-76D, and Bell Helicopter will add Lord Corporation’s AVCS on the next-generation 525 Relentless, while Airbus Helicopters will equip its new EC130-T2 with the system. The U.S. Marine Corps will also use Lord systems on its future Sikorsky CH-53K to isolate and eliminate vibrations from the aircraft’s three GE engines.

AgustaWestland already uses AVCS on the AW139 and has asked Lord to proceed with qualification of its OMNI AVCS for other AgustaWestland models coming down the line. Lord will use a common design approach with core components that will allow AgustaWestland to customize each system for each model within the manufacturer’s family of helicopters.

This common design of core components also allows AVCS to be adapted to the different manufacturers as well as models developed by a single manufacturer, according to Lord. The OMNI system “uses a scalable architecture in terms of circular force generator output and the number of actuators used,” the company stated.